David Cameron in race row over photograph with Morris dancers

David Cameron with his daughter, Florence, and dancers at the Banbury Folk FestivalINS

David Cameron has landed himself in trouble after posing for a picture with blacked-up Morris dancers at a festival near his Oxfordshire constituency.

The prime minister happily stopped for photographs with the group of dancers wearing black face paint during a family day out at the Banbury Folk Festival on Saturday. He is pictured smiling with his daughter, Florence.

He has since been widely criticised on social media after the picture was posted on Twitter, because of the racist connotations of blacked-up Morris dancers in the past. Some historians have claimed that Morris dancing is a parody of African tribal dances and in the early 20th century the dance was sometimes referred to as “n***** dancing”.